Foxbane Ltd and Steven Heath: ccTLD

So long and thanks for all the fish

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:54:46 GMT

With the appointment of the .nz Experts (the lawyers sitting on the disputes panel) the final part of the puzzle is in place for .nz. I have spent hundreds and maybe thousands of hours of blood sweat and tears into breaking the Domainz behemoth and putting in place a flexible and successful .nz system. For no personal gain or for any other reason than 'it was the right thing to do'. I think I will get off my butt and update the .nz registrar page, and keep it updated, and leave this policy stuff to those many people now employed by InternetNZ.

I guess it is a good thing that this now does not attract my interest. It means it is running well and working as it should. I would give the current .nz system a 9 out of 10. I will post in the up coming weeks about what changes I would put on my wish list.

Does it really matter?

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:47:15 GMT

It is with some amusement I find myself very busy for next week. However my next week is not related to the first, and hopefully only, ICANN meeting in Wellington. I am off to LinuxWorld in Sydney something that actually has a technical focus, unlike ICANN.

I commented after finding out that we had ~~lost~~ won the 'right' to host the ICANN meeting that whatever was planned would mean nothing and it would just be hijacked by what other crisis event was occurring at the time. Much like every other ICANN meeting. The more things change the more they remain the same. This meeting like all ICANN meetings is much ado about nothing. Those that 'talk it up' are just those that gain their power by being involved in this process. Wouldn't be great if a ICANN meeting was held and no one showed up and would anyone care?

In my opinion the only part of ICANN that really impacts the ccTLD's is IANA. This is also not part of ICANN, ICANN just performs those duties on behalf of the US Government. Now with the Verisign agreement providing ICANN with millions of dollars direct from the monolopy agreement then ICANN can drop the final pretence of 'consulting' the community in these side shows called 'ICANN meetings'.

Enough of this ramble. I wanted to get if off my chest. Anyone want to take bets on how many press releases come out that actually say nothing, both during and after the meeting?

Behold the future!

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 22:02:28 GMT

I have been mulling the future of this site from some time.

The reason is simple, .nz, in general, has its shit together. Things are not falling apart or lawsuits being threatened (or in some cases filed) and multi million dollar projects run by inept management are not occurring any more.

I created this blog back in July 2002 in the days of the formation of the SRS to highlight what was going to those people that did not ‘live the SRS’.

While I do not think .nz is perfect it is one of the best ccTLD’s. I think that for instance NZOC should be more transparent and broader process for appointments and full registrar stats being made public.

The last part of the jigsaw is the .nz disputes process. Once that is implemented I will cover any initial cases and then I think I will turn out the lights. I plan to keep the site online for all those amusing Google searches I get.

Other options were to turn it into a ‘personal blog’ but then again I would rather give myself a lobotomy with a spork than do that. For a brief moment I had thought about running the Unofficial DPF Fan Site (UDPFFS) but I think some 8 year old girl called Sarah is already planning on doing that so I wont steal her thunder :-)

I plan to refocus my attention on the registrar survey that I was half way through doing before a hard drive crash and being a reference site for the .nz ccTLD.

Of course if I’m lucky .nz could all fall apart and I could have a ‘target rich environment’ again and things will be back to the ‘good old days’. Here’s hoping!

Chesley Rafferty's luck runs out

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:52:48 GMT

I meant to post about this a few weeks ago but it slipped my mind. Chesley Rafferty Director and Head Scumbag of Domain Names Australia has been declared bankrupt after two creditors filed petitions against him. The amusing part is the petitions were from the ACCC and Auda. The Age has a short write up on the Chesely Rafferty bankruptcy. I like the use of the word 'shonky'.

In a 'final parting shot' Chesley posted to the Australian DNS mail list with this comment. Please note that the content may not pass any web filtering software that you or your employer may be using.

.nz disputes process

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:17:49 GMT

Last week the DNC issued the draft policy for the Disputes Resolution Service for .nz. I have not had a good read of it yet but after talking to several people on the working group it seems to follow all the things they have been talking about for the last 6 months. I do find it ironic that this is being referred to as 'DRS'. Lets hope they are not tempting fate and it does not go as disastrous as the previous DRS project.

WSIS round up

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:10:41 GMT

As the publishing issue took so long to fix I have not blogged on the WSIS issue. The following is a round up of stories that I think cover the issue:

kiwiblog has text of agreement

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:11:24 GMT

David Farrar has the text of the draft agreement. I only looked on his site after I saw the BBC headline.

Agreement reached pre Tunis meeting

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00:26 GMT

BBC is reporting that an agreement has been reached before the Tunis WSIS meeting regarding the recent Internet Governance 'issue'. Have to wait for more detail but do you really think David Gross said "anything that will create any problems for the private sector"?

Further information at Dutch site called ComputerPartner. Looks like this is just hitting the news wires now. In the morning should be lots of coverage.

Twomey quoted in The Guardian

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:42:05 GMT

The Guardian has a story on titled EU says internet could fall apart. Thanks to Bret Faustt I was alerted to a quote from Paul Twomey, ICANN CEO. It is:

"We expect to evolve, we expect to keep changing. We are concerned about stability [of the internet] and we think it's best to evolve existing institutions. Our present corporate structure is a matter of history, not of any particular design."

Bret outlines some of the recent changes to ICANN in his post but I would like to point out that ICANN was created in the manner it was to get 'the nod' from the USA government. Others were also trying to 'win the prize' but ICANN got it, partly based on the corporate structure and that Jon Postel was going to be the CTO. But hey, if you repeat a lie often enough its becomes fact right?

The Economist and Karl Auerbach

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 02:46:12 GMT

Bret Fausett has links to a story in The Economist regarding ICANN and the UN. As it is subscriber only he posted the story for all to read. I guess lawyers in the US don't have to worry about copyright! :-)

Bret also links to Karl Auerbach's followup which he titled "Clueless Editorial". I actually read Karls followup before reading The Economist article. Karl is one of the three former At Large directors elected onto the ICANN board and is by far the most well known. He also has sued ICANN, and won, about access to company documents as a director.

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 10:02:41 GMT

Kieren McCarthy has an article called Breaking America's grip on the net on The Guardian. The best summary of this story is:

After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments.

Things are happening faster than I expected.

ICANN Wellington update

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 02:19:27 GMT

I was wondering what is happening with the ICANN Wellington meeting and first went to www.icann.org.nz and *WHAM* I hit my head on the invisible wall. I am like 'hmm' and think right away that password protecting a document without a stated reason breaches InternetNZ policy (I helped draft the policy :-). I think ok, what about the InternetNZ website and go to www.internetnz.net.nz/icann which is not very much use. I guess with the the Executive Director and the Research Officer being away on a junket not much is going to happen anyway.

ICANN, UN and who is the most democratic

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 22:25:08 GMT

A great deal of discussion is occurring around the future of ICANN and the possible involvement of the UN.

The ‘USA give it up!’ faction has two main issues from what I have read:

1, Control of the Root
2, Cyberspace governance

Read the entire posting.

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:18:02 GMT

Declan McCullagh has an opinion story called Power grab could split the Net. Interesting read. I think the Balkanization would never happen. I also think that as he is American he is overly harsh on his thinking of the UN. I mean most of the issue in Somalia were due to the Americans!

EU saying one thing and doing another?

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 03:28:48 GMT

Internetnews.com has an interesting angle on the USA vs the World issue. They have a quote from Bret Fausett:

But it wasn't a particularly risky move for the EU to make, he said, because they are secure in the knowledge the U.S. is adamant about not giving control to the U.N. Many of the member nations within the EU, he said, still support the U.S. role for Internet governance.

That is an interesting approach. Is EU playing both sides of the field?

Milton Mueller on The Failure of Internet Unilateralism

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 02:13:51 GMT

Milton Mueller has written an article on ICANNWatch called The Failure of Internet Unilateralism. Milton is well versed in ICANN and domain name issues. The story is timely and makes some comments on the inconsistent approach of the USA governments position.

I think the current policy approach is naive and will only lead to a path of greater confrontation. It is time for the USA to state what is minimum requirements for it to allow greater involvement of other national states. You can only fight the tide so long with a bucket and spade.

ICANN: Open and transparent?

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 03:31:11 GMT

This is the first of the many comments I will make on ICANN. Heck, ICANN might be better than what is coming in the (near) future but who can tell?

Take a read of some of the background of the hiring of the new CEO Paul Twomey.

Interesting reading eh?

USA stands alone, lost last major ally.

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 02:08:34 GMT

The story from the International Herald Tribune (which is a very good online source of news BTW) about USA vs The Rest of the World called EU and U.S. clash over control of Net got me thinking.

I can not see ICANN having the same reporting structure in the following years. In fact I am prepared to bet money on it. ICANN may exist but not with the basic contracts with American government departments. The USA can not win this fight, at best they can stage a rear guard that will last years, but not win. ICANN has provided most of the ammunition to its 'foes', alas the rest of the ammunition is most governments finally waking up to their lack of control/influence in 'Internet Governance'.

Maybe ICANN will form an arm of the ITU. Maybe UN will have a reporting group over ICANN (or what it morphs into). Whatever it will be will not be a private company with a couple of wimpy contracts with the USA government.

Lets start working on making it the best it can be knowing that the rules set now will last a long time and will be near impossible to change once implemented.

USA 1 Rest of the World 0

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 01:37:20 GMT

US Government has yet again stated in public they are not going to move control of 'the root'. The part I find the most interesting is this:

"We've been very, very clear throughout the process that there are certain things we can agree to and certain things we can't agree to," Gross told reporters at U.N. offices in Geneva. "It's not a negotiating issue. This is a matter of national policy."

National policy of course USA thinks it is more important than the rest of the world combined. I would not mind so much if They freaking actually enforced their contract(s) with ICANN.

Bank Direct Phish

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 23:29:00 GMT

This morning a post on NZNOG detailed Yet Another Banking Phish (YABP) aiming at Bank Direct clients. The major thing that was different about this YABY was that the scum bag was using a .nz domain name of bankdlrect.co.nz. This means that the registrar and some degree the DNC has some 'power' over the inclusion of this name in the DNS and also its status overall.

As of this 9.30 this morning the name has been removed from the DNS as it is now 'PendingDelete'. Kudos to the registrar Discount Domains on acting in less than an hour on this scum bag. Anyone foolish enough now thinking this is real will not fall for this type of fraud.

Update: While YABY looked nice I realised I typoed and it should have been YABP. I will use YABY for something else :-)

Interesting Technology and Internet Jurisdiction paper

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:32:05 GMT

It is a common thinking that the 'Internet' makes it harder to enforce local laws. The thinking is the Internet can provide people with the ability to avoid all sovereign laws. The other day I found a great paper called "Technology and Internet Jurisdiction" by Joel R. Reidenberg. Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law. Read the abstract and download PDF from http://ssrn.com/abstract=691501 This paper debunks the popular conception with legal examples around the world on why local law is doing very well enforcing laws 'on the Internet'.

WTF are they smoking?

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 10:06:53 GMT

Serious, I mean what the fuck. Really, I do. In this case I am talking about ICANN, those bunch of [power hungry/well meaning/crazed hippies/deluded do gooders] (take your pick) board members that are going to approve .CAT. No shit. Or should that be no kitty litter... or something...

itunes.co.nz

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:50:38 GMT

In December I posted about the itunes.co.nz name that was registered by a local person. According to Stuff it seems that Apple has purchased this name of the registrant and everyone is happy. The interesting thing is it says itunes.com.au was recently purchased, the thing is you cant actually sell a .au name, it is against the policy. I guess Google and Apple get to avoid that policy.

WGIG news and Paul Vixie comments

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:13:58 GMT

The WGIG report has created some interesting views. I have still yet to reach an opinion on it other than it does not have nearly as much as I had expected. I have read 'American neo conversatives' rant that the UN should just screw off and others that the UN then WSIS then WGIG is a way to palm things off and claim 'consultation'. One of the less emotive and useful writings has been Paul Vixie commenting on various aspects of the report. Worth a read, unlike most I have to date.

Herald on WGIG report

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:57:09 GMT

Herald has a Reuters story on the release of the WGIG report.